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  <div class="section" id="module-sndhdr">
<span id="sndhdr-determine-type-of-sound-file"></span><h1>21.9. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-sndhdr" title="sndhdr: Determine type of a sound file."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">sndhdr</span></tt></a> &#8212; Determine type of sound file<a class="headerlink" href="#module-sndhdr" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p id="index-0"><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/2.7/Lib/sndhdr.py">Lib/sndhdr.py</a></p>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-sndhdr" title="sndhdr: Determine type of a sound file."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">sndhdr</span></tt></a> provides utility functions which attempt to determine the type
of sound data which is in a file.  When these functions are able to determine
what type of sound data is stored in a file, they return a tuple <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(type,</span>
<span class="pre">sampling_rate,</span> <span class="pre">channels,</span> <span class="pre">frames,</span> <span class="pre">bits_per_sample)</span></tt>.  The value for <em>type</em>
indicates the data type and will be one of the strings <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'aifc'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'aiff'</span></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'au'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'hcom'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'sndr'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'sndt'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'voc'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'wav'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'8svx'</span></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'sb'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'ub'</span></tt>, or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'ul'</span></tt>.  The <em>sampling_rate</em> will be either the actual
value or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">0</span></tt> if unknown or difficult to decode.  Similarly, <em>channels</em> will be
either the number of channels or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">0</span></tt> if it cannot be determined or if the
value is difficult to decode.  The value for <em>frames</em> will be either the number
of frames or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">-1</span></tt>.  The last item in the tuple, <em>bits_per_sample</em>, will either
be the sample size in bits or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'A'</span></tt> for A-LAW or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'U'</span></tt> for u-LAW.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="sndhdr.what">
<tt class="descclassname">sndhdr.</tt><tt class="descname">what</tt><big>(</big><em>filename</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#sndhdr.what" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Determines the type of sound data stored in the file <em>filename</em> using
<a class="reference internal" href="#sndhdr.whathdr" title="sndhdr.whathdr"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">whathdr()</span></tt></a>.  If it succeeds, returns a tuple as described above, otherwise
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> is returned.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="sndhdr.whathdr">
<tt class="descclassname">sndhdr.</tt><tt class="descname">whathdr</tt><big>(</big><em>filename</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#sndhdr.whathdr" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Determines the type of sound data stored in a file based on the file  header.
The name of the file is given by <em>filename</em>.  This function returns a tuple as
described above on success, or <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>.</p>
</dd></dl>

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